Platoon (1986)

A young soldier in Vietnam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writer:

Oliver Stone

Stars:

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

Top Rated Movies #206 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keith David	...	King
Forest Whitaker	...	Big Harold
Francesco Quinn	...	Rhah
Kevin Dillon	...	Bunny
John C. McGinley	...	Sgt. O'Neill
Reggie Johnson	...	Junior
Mark Moses	...	Lt. Wolfe
Corey Glover	...	Francis
Johnny Depp	...	Lerner
Chris Pedersen	...	Crawford
Bob Orwig	...	Gardner
Corkey Ford	...	Manny
David Neidorf	...	Tex
Tom Berenger	...	Sgt. Barnes
Willem Dafoe	...	Sgt. Elias

Storyline

Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon.

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Plot Keywords:

vietnam war | gore | combat fatigue | gunfire | automatic weapon | 

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Taglines:

The first casualty of war is innocence.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [United States] Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Vietnamese

Release Date:

6 February 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Platoon

Filming Locations:

Luzon, Philippines

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$241,080, 21 December 1986

Gross USA:

$138,530,565

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$138,545,632

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hemdale, Cinema 86

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeff Bridges was considered for Sergeant Elias.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the movie where Chris (Charlie Sheen) finds Sgt. Barnes wounded, Sgt. Barnes's shirt initially and covered in sweat and blood. Right before Chris shoots him, his shirt is ripped on his right side and mostly dry. Present as well is a big patch of dried blood (black) on his right hand, not visible in the previous shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pvt. Gardner: [seeing body bags] Oh, man. Is that what I think it is?
Sergeant: All right, you cheese-dicks, welcome to the Nam. Follow me!

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Alternate Versions

TV version has much of its dialogue redubbed and shots refilmed, replacing such lines as "He thinks he's Jesus F---in' Christ!" with "He thinks he's George Freakin' Washington!"

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Connections

Spoofed in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

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Soundtracks

TRACKS OF MY TEARS
Composed by Smokey Robinson (as William Robinson), Marvin Tarplin and Warren Moore
Performed by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (as Smokey Robinson and The Miracles)
Published by Jobete Music Co., Inc.
Courtesy of Motown Records

User Reviews

One of Oliver Stone's best films

Platoon left me absolutely numb after watching it. Oliver Stone,(Who in fact did serve in Vietnam) did a fantastic job telling this story of the horrors and the insanity of the Vietnam war. What's to be admired about this film, is that Stone doesn't sweet-talk the story, with the good old American boys fighting for their country and facing brutality, instead he brings up a strong morality and humanity issue. It's wasn't all black and white, it wasn't one person was wrong, one was right, there was all shades of gray in between. He uses the characters of Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias (both played brilliantly) as symbols of good and evil clashing into one another. Charlie Sheen (Chris, the narrator of the story) is in a sense torn between both, they are both a part of him as he tries to deal with things falling apart all around him. Vietnam was a senseless war, and Platoon tries to understand why we went through it and how we ever got through it.